There's plenty to take away from Spain's heavy-handed loss to the Dutch on Friday. A dream match for the Netherlands was a nightmare for their opponents. Here are three key points from the match:

Robben and Van Persie are firing on all cylinders: What a game from those two. Both completely picked apart the Spanish defense and goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Van Persie's first goal - a chip-header off a long ball that beat an out-of-position Casillas - was a thing of beauty. Robben's first goal, another long ball that he brought down effortlessly, and his snaking effort late in the match were classic goals from the Dutch number 10.

Van Persie and Robben need to play at a high level if the Netherlands want to reach consecutive World Cup finals, as they did in the 1970s. On Friday night, those two were excellent.

Nightmare from Casillas: The Spanish captain and keeper spent too much of his club season on the bench, and it showed against the Dutch. He was out of position for Van Persie's opener, his giveaway was repsonsible for the Manchester United striker's second, and he looked completely out of sorts when Robben bagged his brace. His truly woeful performance begs the question: at age 33 and with a wealth of goalkeeping talent waiting to take his place, has Casillas played his last World Cup game for Spain?

In reality, Casillas is unlikely to be benched for one poor performance in what has otherwise been a stellar international career. His defense shared plenty of the blame. Too often they were caught out on counterattacks. Gerard Pique looked particularly out of form, and he may find himself watching Spain's next match from the sidelines.

Van Gaal's tactics were spot on: The Netherlands' three-man back-line gave the two wingbacks plenty of room to swing long balls into the box - and the excellent finishing from Van Persie and Robben made the most of that dangerous weapon. Nigel de Jong was much more a tactical playmaker than the hard-man he's famous for being, while van Persie, Robben and Wesley Sneijder ran the counterattacks perfectly.

What was once an aging side with quibbling veterans (see the Dutch Euro 2012 exit from the group stage) looked on Friday like a reinvented youthful team with a perfect combination of seasoned stars and emerging Eredivisie talent. Let's see if Van Gaal can do the same at Manchester United.